restaurant no show policy generator
Write your reservation policy in one minute
Five choices in, a publishable policy out: hold or deposit, fee, window, large-party rule and tone. Copy it onto your booking page and into your confirmation email.
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Your policy
Your policy, ready to publish
Reservations at our restaurant are held with a card. Nothing is charged when you book. Plans change, and that's fine: cancel or move your booking free up to 4 hours before your reservation, using the link in your confirmation. If the whole party doesn't show and we haven't heard from you, a no-show fee of $15 per guest applies. Running late? Call us and we'll hold your table as long as we can. We hold tables for 15 minutes past the reservation time. Parties of 6 or more are held with a card on file, and the $15 per guest fee applies to seats cancelled inside 4 hours or left empty on the night.
Publish it where guests book: booking page (next to the card field), confirmation email, and the day-before reminder. General wording, not legal advice; rules vary by jurisdiction.
How the generator decides the wording
The structure mirrors documented practice: state how the booking is secured, when cancelling is free, exactly what happens after that, and the 15-minute hold. Casual tone leads with reassurance ("plans change, and that's fine"); formal tone reads like terms. Numbers are yours; the defaults reflect operator-reported norms ($10-25 per head casual fees, 2-4 hour windows, a large-party threshold of six). For the reasoning and sources behind each choice, read the no-show policy guide and the fee benchmarks; for finished wording with variants, the template library has policies, emails and scripts ready to paste.
Questions
Policy generator FAQ
Disclosure and authorization: the fee and conditions shown where the guest enters their card, repeated in the confirmation email, and charged exactly as published. Waive for anyone who calls; a call attempt at 15 minutes is your evidence in any dispute.
A policy needs a card behind it
TableHelm Pro puts a Stripe card hold behind every booking and charges your fee in one click. You keep 100%; we take nothing.